Spring rains, melting glaciers feed waterfalls

When warm weather arrives and spring rains fall, glacial melt and runoff feed waterfalls across Whatcom County. There’s nothing like the roar of a rushing river, water barreling over rock in a torrent of white.

Among the most easily accessible and spectacular local cascade is the 88-foot Nooksack Falls, just off the Mount Baker Highway, about seven miles east of a U.S. Forest Service ranger station called the Glacier Public Service Center.

Whitewater careens over rock all along the long the Horseshoe Bend Trail east of Glacier. Racehorse Creek, off North Fork Road in the Mount Baker foothills, features several impressive falls.

Closer to Bellingham, the North Lake Whatcom Trail features two nice waterfalls, especially in winter and spring. At Whatcom Falls Park, the main falls is a 20-foot drop above the historic stone footbridge.

Up a side route from the Lake Padden Trail is Padden Creek Falls, which plummets in two stages. Smaller cascades spill over hillsides on the trails around Arroyo Park.